Is Archie Miller the Greatest Coach On Earth?

Coming off a late game collapse and home loss to a very good Purdue team caused primarily by a series of on-court decisions ranging from bad to incredibly stupid it’s time to ask a very real question.

Is Archie Miller the Greatest Coach On Earth?

And before you stop reading because you think I’m taking a shit on Archie or posing this question sarcastically, let me say from the start that I am 100% serious in asking this question.

The Case For GOAT

Here’s why I think the answer is much closer to yes than to no.

Here’s arguably our best line up.

Josh Newkirk

Rob Johnson

Zach McRoberts

Juwan Morgan

Justin Smith

An argument could be made for a healthy Colin Hartman, whatever that is. But other than that, injuries and experience and proclivity to make a ton of mistakes factored in, this is our best line up.

Now, look back at that list and ask yourself this question out loud.

How many of those guys to you need to guard?

If you’re game planning for this IU team, who do you have to have a plan to cover for fear that they could go for 15 points and really hurt you?

At my most generous, the answer is 2.5 guys.

You have to worry about Juwan and Rob as real scoring threats and then occasionally, Josh or Justin. But by and large, you can commit your five players to stopping two players from scoring.

And before you think I’m slagging off on these guys or saying they shouldn’t be playing, let me reiterate. This is our best line up.

Zach is not a scoring threat at all, but the team is better when he’s on the court.

Josh makes me nuts, but he’s a better, more reliable option than either Aljami or Devonte, neither of whom have shown themselves to be consistent scoring threats anyway so putting them in doesn’t really get you above 2.5.

And Justin could and likely will get to the point where he’s a legit scoring threat on every possession but that when isn’t now.

And yet, somehow, with only two people on the court that other teams have to guard, this team is averaging over 72 ppg and has a winning record.

Do you have another explanation for how a team with a minimum of 3 people on the court ALL THE TIME that don’t need to be guarded is averaging 72.8 ppg and pushed both Duke and Purdue to the final few minutes before losing to better teams other than Archie Miller is the smartest man alive?

I’m not sure that I do.

The Devil’s Advocate – Rebuffed

As a counterpoint, one could argue that it’s Archie’s job to turn these players into scoring threats, and that may well be the case, but consider this.

What if I spent 6 months with Dr. Dre and it was his job to turn me into a platinum selling rapper. And after working with me on my lyrics, my flow, my delivery, my stage presence, and provided me with the sickest of beats to spit over, we only managed to go gold.